MONROE — At the 66th annual Badger Booster Days dinner, Monroe’s Sydney Hilliard was one of two Badger scholarship winners. The other was Luke Benzschawel, whose father Scott played football for the Cheesemakers and Badgers in the 1980s, and whose cousins, Emily and Megan, were Hilliard’s teammates on the WIAA Division 2 runner-up basketball team this year. Luke is a tight end for the Badgers.

“We talk about what it takes to be a champion, and Luke embodies that,” Wisconsin football coach Paul Chryst said.

The annual Badger Booster Days event brings in money to the UW Athletic Department and has a goal of raising $1 million for scholarships.

The event held two days of golf outings at Monroe Golf Club, a party at the Kubly house and the annual dinner. Several door prizes were given away, including a slew of big screen TVs and trips to Hawaii.

After dinner and desert, Colony Brands president John Baumann introduced the UW guests for the evening, led by Wisconsin Athletic Department’s Justin Doherty, who went through accomplishments of the programs of each of the five coaches in attendance for the dinner, which took place June 18 at Ludlow Mansion on Monroe’s north side.

Women’s basketball coach Jonathan Tsipis, who will coach Hilliard this fall, was the first to speak. Women’s hockey coach and Olympian Mark Johnson, men’s hockey coach Tony Granato, men’s basketball coach Greg Gard and Chryst also spoke.

Each coach gave an update on their program and the excitement building for the 2019-20 school year.

Tsipis raved about Hilliard’s ability on the court and her joining prep rival Tara Stauffacher of Beaver Dam for the next four years. Tsipis also joked that if Hilliard had shared a third-grade letter she wrote to herself, it would have saved him a lot of time on the recruiting trail.

Hilliard’s letter was about what she wanted to do when she grew up — of the items she can cross off are graduating high school and playing basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers. Marrying an NFL player that she hoped plays for the Rams and opening a Subway shop still have yet to be accomplished.

The football team is led by Heisman-favorite and Doak Walker award-winning running back Jonathan Taylor. Coming off a Pinstripe Bowl win over Miami, the Badgers will have to find a new quarterback and fill in some holes left by players that departed for the NFL.

“We’ve got the best tailback in college football. As good of a player as he is, he’s an even better person. He’s an unbelievable worker, and he cares a ton about his teammates,” Chryst said. “We’re looking forward to this season.”

Granato spoke about his highly-recruited incoming class of freshman, a few of which will likely be taken in the first round of this year’s NHL draft. Granato talked about what, when talking with alumni, was something the program hasn’t done before that they should have. He said honoring Johnson was at the top of the list.

“I wanted to re-connect with the alumni after I came back to coach, and one of my first questions was ‘What would be special,’ and all of the responses were ‘How haven’t we honored Mark in a special way?’” said Granato, who added that “Badger” Bob Johnson, Mark’s father, was one of his coaching inspirations.

In February, the Badgers retired Johnson’s hockey number — the first player to be bestowed such an honor.

Johnson, who scored two goals in Team USA’s “Miracle on Ice” win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics, has coached the women’s team for the past 18 years, which includes five national titles.

“I tried to steal him 18 years ago,” Granato said. “I was the coach of the Colorado Avalanche and I needed an assistant coach to do for me what Badger Bob had done, and I tried really hard to get Mark. It was right before Christmas break, and I gave him my pitch. He said to give him a few days, and when he called back, he said ‘I started this thing here, and I can’t walk away from it.’”

Johnson’s squad just won another title this past spring, defeating Wisconsin rival Minnesota in the championship game. Johnson is the winningest coach in women’s hockey history.

“When you win the last game, especially against those Golden Gophers, it’s a lot of fun,” Johnson said. “The one thing I take away from this group, what they were able to establish early on was to develop chemistry. I think that’s a real key ingredient. If you’re going to be successful, everybody has to buy in. It can’t be 50 percent of the players, or 70 percent — it has to be everybody.”

Much of the night was filled with jokes and jabs back and forth between the coaches. Gard started his speech with a bang.

Doherty introduced Gard by bringing up recently departed Ethan Happ, who will fight for a job in the NBA next year. Happ, an All-American and Kareem Abdul Jabbar award winner, finished his career with over 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 400 assists — just the sixth player in NCAA history to accomplish those marks.

“(Shoot), that’s going to be a lot to replace,” said Gard to a crowd of laughter. Gard, from Cobb in Grant County, coached at Southwestern and Platteville early in his career before joining Bo Ryan’s staff at UW-Platteville. Gard followed Ryan to Wisconsin and took over during the 2015-16 season. Ryan’s high school head coach Ron Rainey was Gard’s guest of honor.

“Ron Rainey comes in every summer over camp and complains that I work him too hard, but he keeps coming back. He’s been coaching a long time — all the way back to the 50s,” Gard said.

Gard spent much of his time talking about his current assistant coach, Howard Moore, and how the entire Badgers family stepped up after a tragic car accident in late May. Moore, driving with his wife, son and daughter, were hit by a wrong-way driver May 25 in Michigan. Moore’s wife, Jennifer, 46, and 9-year-old daughter, Jaidyn, died in the crash, as did the wrong-way driver, 23-year-old Samantha Winchester.

“Coach Moore is recovering physically — he had surgeries for his burns and injuries in the crash. But the mental and emotional healing will be a lifetime (recovery),” Gard said. 

Coaches, administrators and players all went to see Moore in the hospital. Moore and his 13-year-old son Jerell, who was also injured, have since been released from the hospital.

“The one thing that stood out, and we were there … was not only the strength of coach Moore, and how much he relies on his faith even in that, the darkest day of his life, was finding the silver-lining and hope that he had in it. The support that he received from the Wisconsin community — former teammates, coaches, Stan Van Gundy, the former Wisconsin coach was there that night — it’s been an ongoing outpouring of support,” Gard said.